1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus which has a function of transmitting input image data to an external device, and a method for controlling the image processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various systems for an image processing apparatus to transmit input image data to an external device such as a personal computer (PC) and store the image data have been used. For example, some systems have been used as a scanning system for transmitting image data generated by reading a document image using a scanner to an external device such as a PC.
One is a system for a user to use a scanner driver installed in a PC which is a transmission destination of image data, to operate the scanner driver on the PC, transmit a scan instruction to a scanner to perform scanning, and acquire the image data. This system is used for the PC to acquire the image data from the scanner which is referred to as a “Pull scanning system (hereinafter referred to as Pull scanning)”.
The second is a system for a user to directly operate an operation panel of a scanner, input a scan instruction after designating a transmission destination of image data to perform scanning, and transmit the image data to a PC at the transmission destination. This system is used for the scanner to transmit the image data to the PC which is referred to as a “Push scanning system (hereinafter merely referred to as Push scanning)”. In the Push scanning system, protocols such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Server Message Block (SMB), and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) are generally used to transmit the image data to the PC via a network.
The third is a system for a user to directly operate an operation panel of a scanner, and transmit an instruction to execute Pull scanning to a PC selected on the operation panel. The PC that has received the instruction to execute Pull scanning starts the Pull scanning using a scanner driver installed in the PC. In this system, the user designates scan settings such as a reading condition previously set by the scanner driver on the operation panel of the scanner, and the scanner driver executes the Pull scanning according to the scan settings. In this system, the user need not operate the PC, as in Push scanning, and issues a scan instruction on the operation panel of the scanner. However, the PC then acquires the image data from the scanner, as in the Pull scanning. Therefore, the system is referred to as a “pseudo Push scanning system (hereinafter merely referred to as pseudo Push scanning)”.
As described above, in the Pull scanning, the scan instruction is received from the PC (scanner driver) which is the transmission destination of the image data. Therefore, the transmission destination of the image data is uniquely specified. On the other hand, in the Push scanning and the Pseudo Push scanning, a method for displaying information representing a list of transmission destinations previously registered in the scanner on the operation panel of the scanner and making the user select the transmission destination from the list has been considered (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-198819).
When the transmission destination of the image data is selected on the operation panel in the image processing apparatus, as in the Push scanning and the pseudo Push scanning, as described above, the following issue occurs. When PC names representing the transmission destinations overlap in a plurality of PCs and a user who operates the operation panel in the image processing apparatus selects one of the PCs having the overlapping name without noticing it, image data is transmitted to the PC different from the PC intended by the user. Thus, erroneous transmission of image data may occur.
On this issue, when the PC name representing the transmission destination is registered in the image processing apparatus, the PC name may be inhibited from being registered if it overlaps the other PC name. However, when a model name of the PC, for example, is automatically registered in the image processing apparatus by information notified from the scanner driver, inhibition of the registration and automatic change of the registered name may rather degrade operability. Although the registered names are not actually identical, characters, in a portion displayed on the operation panel in the image processing apparatus, of the names may be identical. In such a case, a method for inhibiting the overlapping name from being registered is not necessarily an effective measure.